One of the biggest video game releases of all time, heavily scrutinized to hell and back by overzealous modders and people who ripped extra game modes and content from the product before they were intended for public release...and it takes almost three years for someone to get their back up over a barely-legible quote on a painting in the game?

We're talking about a series that had a main character describe the Afghan region as being "blood-stained by thousands of years of warfare", a Middle Eastern terrorist detonating a nuclear device in his capital city, civilians being massacred via the whims of Russian ultranationalists and every almost every NPC of Middle Eastern descent being depicted either as a helpless civilian or (in Al-Asad's case) a cowardly leader who got anticlimactically murdered, and your problem is with a quote that says to love God?

I guess Activision should be commended for enforcing the low suspension of disbelief in Muslim culture. They must have some kind of God to be continually incensed over a mistranslated quote in a game that's several years old.

What no one seems too get is that there are No, zero, zip, zilch, depictions of the Prophet Mohammed in the Muslim world. They believe that any image of Prophet Mohammed might lead some too start worshiping the picture itself and not Allah. I do not blame them for this, in my Christian walk, I have seen people claiming to be Christians do some pretty stupid thing in Christs name (even though they are contradicting Christ by doing some of the stupid but I digress).

This. This right here, this thread, this topic, this guys youtube channel, the comments left on his youtube channel, the ill will gained and thrown like daggers across a room full of children who have no idea what it is they are actually doing, believing, or going on about.

This is why I detest military shooters and do not play them. You can stand there and tell me all day long that you are a player and they you are a decent upright chap who has never hurt a fly or made someone cry with your words, that does not excuse the rest of your community.

Hasty Edit 1: I am okay with a map or two being pulled to be edited so it doesn't upset a nation, its one map people, theres many other to play.

Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer map, Favela, has been temporarily removed from the game's playlists.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and 3 players have found themselves temporarily one venue short, as Activision has pulled one of the game's maps following complaints from Muslim gamers.

The map in question, Favela, depicts a shanty town in Rio de Janiro. One of the bathrooms in the map contains two paintings, the frames of which are decorated with an ornate quote attributed to the prophet, Muhammad: "Allah is beautiful and He loves beauty."

As was pointed out in this video released back in October, the sight of holy teachings written on or in a bathroom can be offensive to some followers of Islam. It's a minor error, and one easily attributed to ignorance rather than malice, but Activision has elected to remove the map from rotation until it can be edited via a title update. The publisher has since apologized for the slight.

As an Activision rep told Kotaku:

"We apologize to anyone who found this image offensive. Please be assured we were unaware of this issue and that there was no intent to offend. We are working as quickly as possible to remove this image and any other similar ones we may find from our various game libraries."

We are urgently working to release a Title Update to remove the texture from Modern Warfare 3. We are also working to remove the texture from Modern Warfare 2 through a separate Title Update. Until the TU is ready, we have removed the Favela multiplayer map from online rotation.

Activision and our development studios are respectful of diverse cultures and religious beliefs, and sensitive to concerns raised by its loyal game players. We thank our fans for bringing this to our attention."

The video that originally pointed out the issue has had its comments section closed, I couldn't possibly speculate as to why.

This isn't the first time Muslims have taken issue with unintentional slights in videogames. Media Molecule's Little Big Planet was famously delayed when it became apparent one of the musical tracks from the game contained lines from the Koran. More recently, Hindus took offense when Hi-Rez Studios' announced that their upcoming fighter title, Smite, would feature characters from the Hindu pantheon.

What no one seems too get is that there are No, zero, zip, zilch, depictions of the Prophet Mohammed in the Muslim world. They believe that any image of Prophet Mohammed might lead some too start worshiping the picture itself and not Allah. I do not blame them for this, in my Christian walk, I have seen people claiming to be Christians do some pretty stupid thing in Christs name (even though they are contradicting Christ by doing some of the stupid but I digress).

So I say, this is legit.

I think alot of people get that and i still think when we get bomb threats to south park because they going to use a hooded muhammid in a episode about all the major religions, it ceases to hold any weight at all.

I am pretty sure the creators of s park are not islamic, i am pretty sure comedy central is not an islamic carrier, i am sure the episode never really intended to show anything of the actual muhammid, and i am sure s park bring s park they would have done something "tasteful" and not just gone for the shock fest and flame bating.

But none of that mattered they rolled out the bomb threats, death threats and boom they got what they wanted.

Again i will say stop just stop trying to justify anyone forcing their beliefs on everyone, it is wearing thin when everytime someone says boo on their side people cannot bend over fast enough to kiss their asses.

It is not like the more extreme elements of islam that actually use this stuff as an excuse to justify killing anyone are nice people to begin with, they are murderers rapists and thugs a good chunk of them and if not today over south park it will be tomrrow because it was allahs will, or the next day because of israel, or the next day because of some unheard of utube video.

At first, I thought it was some derogatory remarks towards Islam, after seeing how widely this was reported. But to find out it was simply a quote above a toilet...I just don't understand the mentality. Do they not understand that not everything has to conform to their religion? Or that they are not free from criticism?I guess I'll never understand, as I'm too free minded to conform to such zealotry. But I'm going to remain annoyed by the whole situation.If someone calls me something on the internet, I live with it, because is can't be helped. But if someone openly criticizes Islam, heads roll.I am sufficiently bugged by this ordeal. Bugged I say.

When will people start standing up to these muslims and tell them to just deal with it! I'm sick of hearing these types of stories. You just can't go anywhere near Islam without a huge deal being made out of it.

What no one seems too get is that there are No, zero, zip, zilch, depictions of the Prophet Mohammed in the Muslim world. They believe that any image of Prophet Mohammed might lead some too start worshiping the picture itself and not Allah. I do not blame them for this, in my Christian walk, I have seen people claiming to be Christians do some pretty stupid thing in Christs name (even though they are contradicting Christ by doing some of the stupid but I digress).

So I say, this is legit.

I think alot of people get that and i still think when we get bomb threats to south park because they going to use a hooded muhammid in a episode about all the major religions, it ceases to hold any weight at all.

I am pretty sure the creators of s park are not islamic, i am pretty sure comedy central is not an islamic carrier, i am sure the episode never really intended to show anything of the actual muhammid, and i am sure s park bring s park they would have done something "tasteful" and not just gone for the shock fest and flame bating.

But none of that mattered they rolled out the bomb threats, death threats and boom they got what they wanted.

Again i will say stop just stop trying to justify anyone forcing their beliefs on everyone, it is wearing thin when everytime someone says boo on their side people cannot bend over fast enough to kiss their asses.

It is not like the more extreme elements of islam that actually use this stuff as an excuse to justify killing anyone are nice people to begin with, they are murderers rapists and thugs a good chunk of them and if not today over south park it will be tomrrow because it was allahs will, or the next day because of israel, or the next day because of some unheard of utube video.

These people did not do any of that BS. They just politely protested.

These Muslims are not the radicals. They just want common respect. Like any other American.

If a work actively encourages or congratulates hate, discrimination and hate crime, it should be brought under review.

I don't know much about this franchise, so I don't know first hand how bad it was. Was it really hateful or distasteful? If so, then okay. Innocent Muslims are often victims of hate crimes and discrimination in several countries, you know.

If not, then wtf?

And censorship should never be treated lightly. I realize this is not a company that values artistic integrity, but still. Cowardly to instantly give into demands like that.

I know tons of christian families that have pictures of jesus, crucifixes, verses from the bible and little christian trinkents in their restroom. I bet there are muslims with islamic paraphenalia in their restrooms as well (it is where a lot of them do their ritual cleaning every day)...so why is anyone mad?

The group of Muslims who pointed this out NEVER asked for the map to be removed, just for the quote to be moved out of the outhouse. While it is Activision's right to leave it up they chose the smarter and more sensitive move of changing the map.

Of course instead of leaving the map up while they fixed it they took it down. I don't know if that was the right decision because a lot of young kids are now angry and blaming Muslims for taking away their map but the map will be back.

So I actually applaud Activision for this decision. I am an atheist and think Christians and Muslims both have extremely silly beliefs but that does not mean they should not be shown respect.

DeadpoolPwnz:So if Muslims resort to bomb threats, has anyone tried sending them bomb threats about them sending bomb threats?

I welcome you to try it if you think it is such a good idea. Be really careful with that kind of talk, if you were Muslim you'd be questioned by the police to determine if you were "inciting terrorist acts".

But when these groups spout this stuff no one says "Christians are like a big baby", they say "That group is crazy, they don't represent real Christians".

Of course they do and so do these Muslims but will we as a nation and as race and as a species ever let go of the broad brush? Will we ever stop attacking people based on their religious affiliation? I hope so but I don't think so.

I feel like all my views were already expressed in this thread, but here it goes anyway.

It's not that Activision was trying to be nice, it's that they took extreme action to accomplish it (I consider pulling an entire map to fix one texture extreme) over what seems to be a mediocre complaint. If Activision just said "okay, we'll fix it in an update sometime" this whole thing would have blown over. Instead, now I can't enjoy playing one of my favorite maps online. Hopefully for not too long.

Honestly it seems to be a publicity stunt on Activision's part. I know some great people who are Muslims, please understand, most of my ire is directed at Activision.

DeadpoolPwnz:So if Muslims resort to bomb threats, has anyone tried sending them bomb threats about them sending bomb threats?

I welcome you to try it if you think it is such a good idea. Be really careful with that kind of talk, if you were Muslim you'd be questioned by the police to determine if you were "inciting terrorist acts".

Dogstreet:Unfortunately I don't believe that this kind of incident portrays the Muslim community in a good light.

Wait... what? How does an individual, who calmly makes a justified, relevant, accurate and logical complaint (a far cry from what normally happens in this world, I should point out, just look at hazabaza1's quoted Youtube comments if you don't believe me), NOT put the Muslim world in a good light?

Because it caused a game company to take a map off a game?

Wow, you have some serious priority issues here.

Free-speech and freedom of expression does NOT give people a carte-blanche to do anything they want, damn the consequences. You have to take responsibility for what you say (The phrase "don't write cheques your body can't cash" comes to mind), and unfortunately, its stuff like this, given the current global situation, that can quite possibly lead to people DYING.

Activision did the right thing by taking the map down, and shows great responsibility.

I don't like political correctness as much as the next person, but at least I have the common sense to understand that when you poke a hornets nest, you're going to get stung. The muslim world right now is a Powder-keg waiting to go off, and its things like what was pointed out in the video that will set it off.

You just kindof proved his point, small incidents like this just make the Muslim community look horrible, it's not the incident itself but the wider issue of an extremist culture which is brought to light every time a company bends over backwards to insure they aren't in the headlines for causing a mass riot which resulted in people dying.

"In Left 4 Dead there's "GOD IS DEAD" all over the walls. I don't see any﻿ buttmad Christians."

Seriously? This guy got mad about supposed anti-Muslim messages in a game where the story is based around killing hundreds of Muslims for hours on end? Did he replace his brains with cough syrup? I don't understand how somebody could be so stupid...

And you, Infinity Ward! Since when did you bow down to every protester with more than 500 viewers on YouTube? Couldn't there be a way to change Favela without taking it down? Or at least, if you had to take it down, doing it for an hour before replacing? No? We're just going to shut it down then? Well, here's to you:

I don't begrudge the Muslims for asking them to change it, and I don't begrudge Activision fixing it. But isn't pulling the map useless and annoying at this point? I mean, the "damage" is already done...

Stainlesssteele4:At first, I thought it was some derogatory remarks towards Islam, after seeing how widely this was reported. But to find out it was simply a quote above a toilet...I just don't understand the mentality. Do they not understand that not everything has to conform to their religion? Or that they are not free from criticism?I guess I'll never understand, as I'm too free minded to conform to such zealotry. But I'm going to remain annoyed by the whole situation.If someone calls me something on the internet, I live with it, because is can't be helped. But if someone openly criticizes Islam, heads roll.I am sufficiently bugged by this ordeal. Bugged I say.

Except that is baloney! There are attacks on Islam all the time in this country, hate crimes are between 3 and 5 times more likely on Muslims in the US since 9/11, depending on which numbers you look at. In either case that is a huge increase, imagine the murder rate going up by 300 to 500%, or rape, etc.

I myself, who is NOT a Muslim but of middle eastern descent, have had several instances of personal harassment, once by a cop. The current "war on terror", the 9/11 attacks, there is a long and complicated history leading up to that, going as far back as 70 years ago and the US/UK backed ousting of Iran's democratically elected president. It goes back to US support of Saddam Hussein in his war with Iran and supplying him with weapons, many of which were used to suppress his own people. It has to do with US support of the mujahideen, and thus indirectly Osama Bin Laden.

US foreign policy of the last 60+ years, basically post WWII, has been all about trading short term gains for long term problems. When people generalize about homosexuals most people will put them in their place right away. When people generalize about African Americans most people will put them in their place. But when people go around saying all Muslims are cry babies, all Muslims are terrorists, etc., more often than not 90% of the comments are "Yup, your right, screw those guys".

DeadpoolPwnz:So if Muslims resort to bomb threats, has anyone tried sending them bomb threats about them sending bomb threats?

I welcome you to try it if you think it is such a good idea. Be really careful with that kind of talk, if you were Muslim you'd be questioned by the police to determine if you were "inciting terrorist acts".

Hate is an ugly thing.

Not muslim, also I wouldn't try it, just curious if anyone has.

Why would you even bring that up though? No one here made a bomb threat or a threat of ANY physical violence. Basically some small group of Muslim gamers posted a video asking Activision to correct that small mistake. They didn't demand they change it, they did not threaten violence, they just said, "this is offensive to us, can you change it?"

So why does that make you so sick? Why do you want to send them bomb threats?

But when these groups spout this stuff no one says "Christians are like a big baby", they say "That group is crazy, they don't represent real Christians".

Of course they do and so do these Muslims but will we as a nation and as race and as a species ever let go of the broad brush? Will we ever stop attacking people based on their religious affiliation? I hope so but I don't think so.

I know about that. May I use Jon Stewart's words. Not getting what you always want is not an attack on your religion. But this is only America. There are complaints everywhere Islam establish it's self. Here in Norway Christians have been a silent bunch for many years. Little to no problem. But after Muslim immigrants have been pouring in in greater numbers, we had demonstration and riots in our own capital along with death threats and every conceivable complaint there is to make. Why? Because they do not like how we view freedom of speech. Look at England. They are really having fun there. That thing in America is local. This is global.

I welcome you to try it if you think it is such a good idea. Be really careful with that kind of talk, if you were Muslim you'd be questioned by the police to determine if you were "inciting terrorist acts".

Hate is an ugly thing.

Not muslim, also I wouldn't try it, just curious if anyone has.

Why would you even bring that up though? No one here made a bomb threat or a threat of ANY physical violence. Basically some small group of Muslim gamers posted a video asking Activision to correct that small mistake. They didn't demand they change it, they did not threaten violence, they just said, "this is offensive to us, can you change it?"

So why does that make you so sick? Why do you want to send them bomb threats?

Jesus lighten up dude it was meant to be silly. Personally I don't really care either way, you could argue a number of points for either side of this. My honest opinion is that I respect the maker of the video for having the courage to make said video knowing full well the garbage that would be slung at him on youtube. I also think it was pretty good on Activision's part to actually do something when they could have easily just ignored it.

Edit: Does this mean Activision will take me seriously if I ask nicely for a Warcraft 4? (an RTS not another addon to WoW)

Stainlesssteele4:At first, I thought it was some derogatory remarks towards Islam, after seeing how widely this was reported. But to find out it was simply a quote above a toilet...I just don't understand the mentality. Do they not understand that not everything has to conform to their religion? Or that they are not free from criticism?I guess I'll never understand, as I'm too free minded to conform to such zealotry. But I'm going to remain annoyed by the whole situation.If someone calls me something on the internet, I live with it, because is can't be helped. But if someone openly criticizes Islam, heads roll.I am sufficiently bugged by this ordeal. Bugged I say.

Except that is baloney! There are attacks on Islam all the time in this country, hate crimes are between 3 and 5 times more likely on Muslims in the US since 9/11, depending on which numbers you look at. In either case that is a huge increase, imagine the murder rate going up by 300 to 500%, or rape, etc.

I myself, who is NOT a Muslim but of middle eastern descent, have had several instances of personal harassment, once by a cop. The current "war on terror", the 9/11 attacks, there is a long and complicated history leading up to that, going as far back as 70 years ago and the US/UK backed ousting of Iran's democratically elected president. It goes back to US support of Saddam Hussein in his war with Iran and supplying him with weapons, many of which were used to suppress his own people. It has to do with US support of the mujahideen, and thus indirectly Osama Bin Laden.

US foreign policy of the last 60+ years, basically post WWII, has been all about trading short term gains for long term problems. When people generalize about homosexuals most people will put them in their place right away. When people generalize about African Americans most people will put them in their place. But when people go around saying all Muslims are cry babies, all Muslims are terrorists, etc., more often than not 90% of the comments are "Yup, your right, screw those guys".

Did I say anything about attacks? No, I said criticism.To put it bluntly, religious fanatics demand that everything go their way, or else. This scenario is just exactly that; Fanatics demanding something change because it isn't perfect for them.

Video games and movies have inadvertently said and done homophobic and racist things in the past, but if a single anti Muslim sentiment goes through, it's a fucking backlash from the entire Islamic community. Meanwhile, everyone else just sucks it up and moves on.

Of all the groups facing adversity, they are just making themselves look petty. Yes, they are the largest growing religion, and yes, they are entitled to some courtesy. But seriously, they outright demand certain things go their way!This particular instance, the MW2 'scandle', is different. He didn't demand anything, but there was no need to even bring it up. Be offended, and move on. And after being brought up, the Islamic community did want it changed.

An instance of the Muslim community complaining about outlandish things?Burger King stoped selling ice cream cones because 'the silhouette of an ice cream cone looks like the symbol for Allah'.If it's honestly a big deal, then stop buying Burger King ice cream cones, instead of ganging together and demanding BK change it. It's just crazy!

I say they demand too much. And this incident is no different. In fact, this one is pretty huge. They are going to change an actual map, in a video game released 3 years ago.

Now, you can continue on your whole tirade about foreign policy, and so on, but I'm not talking about that. I am talking about how the Islamic community are far too demanding, and hold themselves in far too high regard.

Agreed. It's hard to see myself getting upset either way - muslims found something offensive, and Activision obliged them. That Activision actually decided to listen to its gamers is a good thing, and it seems a shame that the thread decscends into "showing consideration for muslim gamers = special treatment for muslim gamers".

Last time I checked, gay marriage didn't get legalized in a lot of Christian countries because of Christians. Last time I checked, the church didn't have to pay any taxes.

If Christians make up the majority vote in a country, that doesn't make it unfairly pandering to Christians. The Bible is a f***ing stupid reason to be against gay marriage, but their opinion still matters in a democracy. Also, no religions have to pay taxes. I don't see how this makes Christianity look any better. I think it's stupid that religions don't have to pay taxes. But the kind of attitude that exempts them is the same attitude that is at play here, pandering to some oversensitive Muslims, many of which I doubt play the game and none of which care that their BS has caused inconvenience for every other player of the game regardless of religion.

Lastly, I don't see your point. You're basically saying all since all religions are pandered to, people shouldn't be annoyed if they see yet more pandering.